Boozhoo, Waabishkigaabo nindizhinikaaz Biizu ndoodem, Wauzhushk Onigum Indoonji-baa. I am writing this article in response to there being no candidate to fill the Aboriginal student representative position on UMSU council during this year’s election. I hope to provide encouraging words for our current indigenous students who are thinking about getting involved, and for those who have no wish to be involved.

February is Black History Month. During February we reflect on the historical treatment of black people, who were taken from their homeland and carted across the Atlantic and, for those who survived the voyage, sold into slavery. That was just the beginning of the ill treatment of black people in North America, which continued well past the abolition of slavery and is still very much present today.

During Black History Month, we are encouraged to read books and watch movies that teach about the struggles that black people faced, and to reflect on and celebrate the accomplishments they have fought hard to achieve, such as the right to vote, access to education, and the desegregation of public spaces

In a recent CBC interview, Howard Sapers, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, outlined some of the most recent statistics on prison populations and incarceration rates in Canada. They show dramatic increases in the number of Aboriginal people incarcerated in Canada, which can only be described as proof of the systemic racism inherent in our country’s judicial system.

25 per cent of the incarcerated population in federal correctional facilities are of Aboriginal ancestry. In the Prairie provinces, this rises to 48 per cent. When looking at Aboriginal women independently, over 36 per cent of women in Canadian prisons are of Aboriginal ancestry.

These numbers are staggering, but even more so when compared to the statistics from previous years. To put this into perspective, Aboriginal people made up 4.3 per cent of Canada’s population in 2011 (the year of the last census).